October 31, 2007

Strategic Drift
Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

Just reinforcing my previous post. The Government Accountability Office has essentially concluded that we have no strategy (PDF) for Iraq.

U.S. efforts lack strategies with clear purpose, scope, roles, and performance measures. The U.S. strategy for victory in Iraq partially identifies the agencies responsible for implementing key aspects of the strategy and does not fully address how the United States would integrate its goals with those of the Iraqis and the international community. U.S. efforts to develop Iraqi ministry capability lack an overall strategy, no lead agency provides overall direction, and U.S. priorities have been subject to numerous changes. The weaknesses in U.S. strategic planning are compounded by the Iraqi government’s lack of integrated strategic planning in its critical energy sector.

I tend to think that the country's political leadership owes it to 165,000 American troops serving in Iraq to at least have a strategy. Even if it is a bad strategy.

It's Iraq Stupid
Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

John Podesta, Brian Katulis and Larry Korb have a great piece today from CAP. Lots of stuff about what progressives need to say about Iraq, but I think the real purpose here is to call out Democrats and progressive to get off their butts and get back to the gravest national security issue that is facing this country. Iraq - Not Iran.

Progressives are frustrated because the president and his allies in Congress have obstructed their oversight of the administration’s Iraq policy. But they now risk drifting themselves into offering only a vague and muddled vision. Progressives must provide a clear alternative to counter the Bush policy of strategic drift—one that takes back control of America’s security interests.

Dems, progressives and the media have taken the bate on Iran. The reality is that we have 168,000 troops in Iraq not Iran. I think war with Iran is relatively unlikely. But if it were to happen it would be a catastrophe preciscly because we have 168,000 troops in Iraq and that is where the Iranians would inflict their damage. In the last two months the only big stories out of Iraq are Blackwater, Turkish border and Iran. People seem to forget that there has been no progress on the political front and there is still no articulation of what the "bottom up" strategy is. There is no plan for taking the various groups that the United States is now training and bringing them together instead of having them eventually just go at each other in a bloodier civil war.

"Getting" Tim Russert
Posted by Michael Cohen

Kudos to Paul Waldman at the American Prospect for his excellent piece today on Tim Russert. That this man is considered "Washington's toughest interviewer" is all the evidence you need about the complete vacuousness with which we cover presidential campaigns in this country. Here's a little snippet to whet your appetite:

Last month, near the end of the Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire, moderator Tim Russert -- known as "Washington's toughest interviewer" and perhaps the most influential journalist in America -- had one last chance to pin the candidates down with his legendary common sense, persistence, and no-bull style. This is what he asked, first to Barack Obama: "There's been a lot of discussion about the Democrats and the issue of faith and values. I want to ask you a simple question. Senator Obama, what is your favorite Bible verse?" When Obama finished his answer, Russert said to the other candidates, "I want to give everyone a chance in this. You just take 10 seconds."

. . . Russert's Bible question encapsulates everything wrong with him, and with our political coverage more generally. It seeks to make candidates look bad rather than finding out something important about them (if you want to explore a candidate's religious beliefs, you don't do it in pop-quiz form and give them just ten seconds to answer). It substitutes the personal anecdote for the policy position, the sound-bite for the substantive answer. It distills the debate into a series of allegedly symbolic, supposedly meaningful moments that can be replayed.

This type of debate question is not about what the candidate believes and would actually do in office, but about how clever the moderator is for cornering the candidate. And above all, it takes a genuinely relevant matter (a candidate's view of the universe) and crams it through a channel by which the thoughtful candidate will be pilloried and the shallow, pandering, overly rehearsed candidate will garner praise

The Problem with Iran
Posted by Michael Cohen

Last night at the Democratic debate in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton got hit with both barrels over her support of the Kyl-Lieberman amendment on Iran. While I tepidly sympathize with the concern about this amendment ('if you give the Bush Administration an inch . . . they will invade an Islamic country') the current debate over Iran, in Democratic circles, is vaguely troubling.

For those of you who have read my earlier posts you would know that I am not a giant fan of the junior Senator from New York, but I thought her argument about Iran last night was a strong one:

I am not in favor of this rush for war, but I'm also not in favor of doing nothing. Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. And the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is in the forefront of that, as they are in the sponsorship of terrorism. So some may want a false choice between rushing to war, which is the way the Republicans sound -- it's not even a question of whether, it's a question of when and what weapons to use -- and doing nothing. I prefer vigorous diplomacy. And I happen to think economic sanctions are part of vigorous diplomacy. We used them with respect to North Korea. We used them with respect to Libya. And many of us who voted for that resolution said that this is not anything other than an expression of support for using economic sanctions with respect to diplomacy.

She's basically right here on two counts. First, the most bellicose language in the Kyl-Lieberman amendment was taken out of the final version and if you read the amendment it does seem a bit tame.

Second, Democrats agree that war with Iran is a bad idea, but what is their alternative? If you read the responses of the other Democratic presidential candidates from last night they spend most of their time saying why they think military action is a mistake . . . and precious little on how a Democratic Administration would stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Frankly, Hillary has come the closest to answering this question (although she has a ways to go).

Will an American lead Iran's most popular institution?
Posted by Max Bergmann

Afshin Ghotbi, a 43 year old Iranian-born American citizen who has spent the vast majority of his life outside of Iran, was hired to coach Persepolis FC Tehran's most popular soccer club. Ghotbi is a UCLA grad and was actually an assistant to the USA team that lost to Iran in the 1998 world cup and was formerly an assistant coach to David Beckham's LA Galaxy.

Under Ghotbi's stewardship Persepolis FC has gotten off to a fast start this season. Leading to lots of gossip that Ghotbi may be the right man to lead Iran's fledgling national team. John Duerdon in the Guardian writes,

Ghotbi is already being talked about as the next manager of an
underachieving national team. Iran is home to some of the continent's
most talented players but...failed to collect more than a single point in Germany or progress past
the quarter-finals of the 2007 Asian Cup. Currently, Iran don't have a
manager...

Ghotbi seems a perfect choice but in Iran, it is never that simple.
In a nation where all but two top-flight clubs are financed by a state
industry, football and politics are never far apart.

Iran, like most soccer crazed countries, places much national pride in the fortunes of their national team, which has already led to the breaking of many social taboos, especially regarding the role of women. Putting an American in charge of such an important national institution would certainly be ground breaking.

Here are some highlights of Persepolis' dramatic recent 3-2 victory (they are in red and Afshin Ghotbi is seen celebrating at around the 3rd minute)...

October 30, 2007

Shame on You, Tim Russert
Posted by David Shorr

What possible use is it to ask presidential candidates for a pledge that they will keep nuclear weapons out of Iran's hands? The fantasy of American omnipotence is exactly what has created so many of our problems. It is more than plausible that a US president, adrenaline pumping over the cataclysm he imagines is just around the corner, could take action that would bring much worse consequences.

Is the right against the WTO too?
Posted by Max Bergmann

The right wing ideologues opposing the Law of the Sea fear that the convention will create an unaccountable international body that will establish an unelected court in a foreign land whose rulings could force the U.S. to change its laws
and regulations under threat of sanctions.

Despite the fact that the Law of the Sea does nothing of the sort, if there is any consistency to their arguments right wing ideologues need to be asked whether they support the unaccountable international body that does do all of these things: the World Trade Organization.

The fact is that the WTO regulates global trade and polices its member's adherence to WTO regulations. If maintaining all aspects of U.S. sovereignty is the right's number one priority than they simply can't support the WTO. And if they don't support the WTO, than you have to question the right's commitment to free trade, since the whole purpose of the WTO is to enable free trade. If the right is really so scared about the erosion of U.S. sovereignty than
they should join all the left wing anti-globalization activists and
protest the WTO. That would be quite a sight.

Linking Environment and National Security: Law of the Sea
Posted by Lorelei Kelly

Last week I had breakfast with a friend who works in the Senate as a national security staffer. In years past, we worked together in Congress and frequently schemed to get issues like climate change onto the national security agendas of staff and Members. Given Al Gore's Nobel Prize, the fact that the Pentagon had released a study linking the two issues, plus the discrediting of much of Bush foreign policy, I asked him about the recent turnaround in perceptions about the seriousness of climate change: was it having an impact on framing the urgency of the issue on Capitol Hill?

He said climate change has bumped up the environment a little bit...but that linking the two essentially remains a tough sell. It helps that the House now has a climate change panel, and that our overdue obsession with energy issues brings the environment in on the margin....but that it was hard to make headway given oversight logjams on issues like military privatization (which was basically ignored for a decade) plus the constant soundtrack on Iraq. Plus the learning curve is made even more steep by the lack of a clear vocabulary, including local anecdotes, linking the environment with national security.

Although the traction is improving, progressives need a long term plan that includes both policy options and a communications strategy that will link environment with security. Like many challenges that involve the common good and extended public deliberation, nothing can be taken for granted since the Right has filled the quiet spaces with an intentional misinformation campaign. We have a chance this week to reverse this situation:

The Law of the Sea Treaty will be considered in the Senate on Wednesday. If you care about broadening the definition of security to include global issues like climate, health, migration or water just to name a few-- then pay attention...

Holy Crap
Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

If this story weren't so serious it would probably merit some kind of snarky remark about exporting American democracy Katrina style.

The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country, according to new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials.

Even in a country gripped by daily bloodshed, the possibility of a catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam has alarmed American officials, who have concluded that it could lead to as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning Mosul under 65 feet of water and parts of Baghdad under 15 feet, said Abdulkhalik Thanoon Ayoub, the dam manager.

Also, I'm not a fan of suppressing journalism for the purpose of security. After all, pointing out problems like this in the public domain makes sure that they get fixed. But this story does make me a little uncomfortable in terms of pointing out a glaring vulnerability. I hope this dam has some serious security around it. If it doesn't. It should.

Podhoretz vs. Zakaria
Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

In six minutes of News Hour footage you can boil down the entire argument over Iran between the crazies (Podhoretz) and the sane people (Zakaria). Notice especially, Podhoretz's repeated references to Hitler. The "what would Hitler do" argument, which is often accompanied by the classic "You are worse than Chamberlin argument" is the oldest rhetorical trick in the book. Fortunately, I just don't think that a country with a GDP the size of Florida's represents the same threat as the industrial behemoth that was Germany.

I wonder why the Neocons never reference WWI? You know. The one where all sides wanted to avoid a war but accidently ended up escalating to a point where they lost control and war became inevitable. The one where all sides underestimated the difficulty and costs of war and expected the battle to be over in months. The war where millions died for absolutely nothing. Surely there is something we can also learn from that episode in history.

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